Q&A Wednesday - Basic Photography Tips 101

Leanne said, "I would love it if you'd share some of the tips and things you learned in your class. Those pictures looked great!"

The photographer instructing the class spent at least 45 minutes teaching us about light, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, metering and composure.  Each.  In the audience, we got comfortable with the settings on our individual cameras, learning how to manipulate each element for different needs and effects.  I'll try to condense the information as basically as I can for you!

The biggest "general" tips I can pass on from my four-hour photography class are:

• study your manual (and keep it in your camera bag for easy reference)
• keep your elbows locked in tightly when hand holding your camera
• get comfortable using a tripod
• practice taking lots and lots of pictures, using different settings

ISO
If you remember back to the old 35mm film cameras, you might remember that you purchased film with an ISO of either 100 (for sunny, outdoor shots), 200 (for most general pictures) or 400 (for low-lighting situations). Many cameras now have ISO options of 800, 1600, 3200 and even 6400.  My dSLR goes up to 3200 and can take decent, focused pictures, without a flash, even indoors with dim lighting.

Personally, I keep my flash off as much as possible.  I prefer natural lighting in my photos; it creates a nicer mood.

WITHOUT flash: ISO 3200, Aperture 5.6, Shutter speed 1/80

WITH flash: ISO 3200, Aperture 14, Shutter speed 1/200

Apparently, you want to use as low ISO as possible for a higher quality picture.  (If I were to try to enlarge the pictures above, it would be very grainy because the ISO is so high.)  But if your ISO is too low in a darker setting, you might not let enough light into your camera and the pictures will be under exposed. (too dark)

The first thing I now know to do when I turn on my camera is to adjust the ISO.  If I'm unsure or need to take a picture quickly, I turn the ISO to "auto," press the shutter half-way and see which ISO the camera decided to use (it pops up on the display screen) to get the best lighting.

Aperture
This is what controls the cool blurry-background effect that everyone loves: the "depth of field."  This has been, by far, the toughest element for me to comprehend, but I think I finally get it.

In this shot, I wanted the heart-shaped leaf in focus, but Kaylin slightly out of focus.

The instructor compared the aperture to the pupil of the eye, which was a great visual for me. He put his finger on his nose and crossed his eyes to look at it.  He pointed out that his finger was in focus, but everything else was blurry.  The farther away he pulled his finger from his face, the more focused everything around him became.  The camera works the same way.

The f-stop refers to the size of the aperture.  Because the f-stop is a actually a fraction (f/4 is 1/4), the smaller apertures are larger f-stop numbers (f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32) and larger apertures are smaller f-stop numbers (f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6).   Does that make sense?  Because 1/2 is larger than 1/16, right? The larger apertures (f/4 and f/5.6 with my lens) creates the focused subject with the blurred background.

(after sunset, low lighting) ISO 1600, Aperture 4.5, Shutter speed 1/400

You can also create the look of a blurred foreground AND background with only one thing in focus, like the picture of Jason below.  Ryan's not that far behind him, but he's even a little out of focus.

ISO 1600, Aperture 4.0, Shutter speed 1/50

Shutter Speed

The "shutter" is the button you hit to take a picture.  A slow shutter speed will allow motion to be blurred while a fast shutter speed freezes motion. (see the pictures below)

I learned a few major things about shutter speed:

1. When you adjust your shutter speed, you need to adjust your aperture.  
2. ISO needs to be raised one stop per fraction of a second the shutter speed is raised.
3. 1/60th of a second is the slowest shutter speed you should attempt to take while holding the camera.  Anything slower should be taken using a tripod, so the camera stays perfectly still.

For this picture, the instructor told us which settings to use and had us "pan" (or follow him) as he ran past us.  The slow shutter speed (1/30th of a second) created the horizontally blurred background with him in focus (because I was physically following him with my camera as he ran), creating movement.

In Tv mode (shutter mode): ISO 100, Aperture 25, Shutter speed 1/30 (this is very slow)

But in the following picture, we set our shutter speed to 1/1000th of a second to freeze the movement (look at the assistant's hair) and everyone behind her was also in perfect focus.

In Tv mode (shutter mode): ISO 800, Aperture 4.5, Shutter speed 1/1000 (this is a fast shutter speed)

Combining The Two

The relationship between the aperture and shutter speed is like a teeter-totter: when you change one, you have to change the other in a 1:1 ratio. When one changes in one direction, the other must change the exact same in the opposite direction.

Some general guidelines:

• When shooting ACTION, choose a FAST shutter speed.
• When shooting at dusk or dawn or at NIGHT, choose a SLOW shutter speed and a LARGE APERTURE.
• When using a SMALL APERTURE, use a SLOW shutter speed.
• When using a LARGE APERTURE, use a FAST shutter speed.
• If you want to FREEZE MOTION, use a FAST shutter speed and SMALL APERTURE.
• To CREATE MOVEMENT when panning (the picture of the instructor running, above), use a SLOW shutter speed

The 7 Elements of Composition

Form - Developing a 3D effect within the image.

Line - visual paths leading the viewer's eye to move through the image.

Color - using a sharp contrast in colors to make an object POP in the image.

Shape - Using objects with edges within the image to create interest. (the way it was explained, even the triangle of grass in the lower right corner would be considered using "shape")

Texture - Giving a touchable illusion...or in some cases, NOT.

Space - The positive or negative area this is used between each object in the image.

Value - The shading/contrast used to emphasize a 3-D effect.

Other Rules of Composition

The Rule of Thirds - I didn't understand this rule until a couple of years ago, but now that I've figured it out, I use it...a lot.

If you picture a tic-tac-toe board on your picture, placing your object off-center and directly on one of those "lines" (either horizontal or vertical), can give your image more balance, making the photo more interesting.

Most people would crop this picture, but I like the visual assumption that the rest of Kaylin's body is buried in the sand.

Kaylin's face is "on" the right vertical line and her arm is "on" the left vertical line.

Ryan is "on" the left grid line, while the sidewalk is just under the bottom horizontal grid line.

The Golden Section - The four intersection points of the same tic-tac-toe lines create more interest in a photo.

Jason's face is in the lower right "intersection" of the imaginary tic-tac-toe lines of the picture.

The bottom pancake is at the "intersection" of the imaginary grid lines, while the top of the griddle pan naturally follows the top horizontal grid line.

Framing - Anything that provides "boundaries" to the subject, adding impact to the image.  For example: branches, window frames, door frames, etc.

Jason's crib bumper provides some natural "framing" to this picture...I think...

Angle - Changing the angle of a picture can add interest and create a different "mood."

Also, notice that Mike's face is in "the golden section."

I hope some of this was helpful.  I'm going to have Mike read it to catch him up to speed on what I've learned so that I can also be in the "good" pictures taken by our camera.  :) 

Even if you don't have a dSLR, you can still learn how to adjust the settings on your point and shoot camera; the biggest difference will be the lack of control over your aperture.  For sure play around with the composition rules and elements (toward the end of the post) to add new interest to your pictures.  Best of luck!!!